Patternity + Pretty Polly

The pattern-obsessed design duo teams up with the hosiery experts for a line of street-inspired tights

Since its founding in 2009, design studio Patternity has believed that nurturing a shared awareness of life's patterns will help every person to feel more connected to a greater whole, changing the way they engage with the world and what is in it. And to their merit, Patternity is becoming the brand that comes to mind when people think of just about anything pattern-related. Collaborating with the ultimate tights specialists Pretty Polly has allowed the Patternity team—headed by "cult pattern pioneers" Anna Murray and Grace Winteringham—to spread their guiding statement, "look at the world with a fresh set of eyes," globally. To carry the campaign to its full potential and help drive the use of pattern as a tool to inspire, explore and innovate, Patternity teamed up with filmmaker Zoe Hitchen to create "Streetshapes," an expertly crafted, offbeat video showing the tights in action.

Designed with a bold arrangement of circles, lines, triangles and squares and sharing a name with the Hitchen film, the AW13 collection celebrates the fundamental surrounding shapes seen in everyday urban life. As Murray explains, the range consists of three "characters" discovered on a journey through city streets where she and Winteringham looked up, down and around to see the everyday environments with a changed perspective. The collection consists of "Bricking It," inspired by brick walls; "Towerblock," looking at high-rise architecture; and "Shapeshifter," turning towards the passing shapes beneath your feet, from paving slabs to drain-covers.

Unlike Patternity's previous hosiery collection with Pretty Polly, which was screen-printed by hand, these tights are created on machines that stitch the yarns in a continuous loop, resulting in a totally seamless finish and a consistent pattern that lies entirely within the final product, as well as a higher inventory for more availability. "The way things are made is crucial to us at Patternity. We have had several visits to the factory here in England to see the tights being made and to meet the people that make them," says Murray. "Really understanding the process and capabilities of the machines and materials can result in limitless design opportunities. We are really excited about using these techniques again and we are already working on the Streetshapes SS14 designs."

The "Streeshapes" film really brings the pattern home. "We shot the entire film on green screen, which was a new process for us and allowed us get really playful when it came to post production—exploring repetition, movement and kaledescopic animation processes," Winteringham explains. As the second time Patternity has collaborated with Hitchen on a fashion film project, the developing identity of Patternity continues to be a team effort thanks to the additional set of expert eyes.

Tights from the Streetshapes collection are available from Pretty Polly for $17 per pair.